Sustainability Cohort 1: Introduction to Sustainability

As the transition to more sustainable energy accelerates, new infrastructure needs to be built, often in places experiencing significant social, economic, and environmental change. Whether these developments gain community acceptance, or face sustained resistance, can depend heavily on trust: in developers, institutions, information, and the processes through which decisions are made.

This session will examine the behavioural and system-level forces that build or erode trust, drawing on real-world experience from renewable energy and community engagement projects. Participants will explore how stakeholder relationships, local context and misinformation shape community sentiment before applying these insights to the emerging challenge of data centres.

Through facilitated discussion and small-group work, participants will explore how trust could be strengthened around data centre development and identify principles that may support more informed, credible, and constructive community engagement.

Instructor: John PickeringLinks to an external site., Chief Behavioral Scientist and Co-founder, Evidn

Through guest speakers, case studies and immersive capstone, graduate students will learn, discuss and investigate goals and dimensions of Sustainability, and practical challenges and solutions.This cohort is in partnership with the Office of Sustainability and Co-developed by Faculty Fellows in Professional Development Innovation and GradFUTURES graduate student fellows.

Upon successful completion of learning cohort including capstone, participants will receive a micro-credential and certification recognizing their proficiency in Sustainability.

Learning Objectives
Participants of GradFUTURES Sustainability learning cohort will learn and discuss the following: 

Systems thinking and analysis of macro-themes (drawing on the UN Sustainable Development Goals, aka SDGs)
The role of emerging technologies in addressing sustainability challenges
The potential and impact of action at different scales (local, national, international initiatives)
How industries, organizations, communities, and countries are approaching sustainability goals; how they are working together or in conflict

Through guest speakers, case studies and immersive capstone, graduate students will learn, discuss and investigate goals and dimensions of Sustainability, and practical challenges and solutions.This cohort is in partnership with the Office of Sustainability and Co-developed by Faculty Fellows in Professional Development Innovation and GradFUTURES graduate student fellows.

Upon successful completion of learning cohort including capstone, participants will receive a micro-credential and certification recognizing their proficiency in Sustainability.

Learning Objectives
Participants of GradFUTURES Sustainability learning cohort will learn and discuss the following: 

Systems thinking and analysis of macro-themes (drawing on the UN Sustainable Development Goals, aka SDGs)
The role of emerging technologies in addressing sustainability challenges
The potential and impact of action at different scales (local, national, international initiatives)
How industries, organizations, communities, and countries are approaching sustainability goals; how they are working together or in conflict

Through guest speakers, case studies and immersive capstone, graduate students will learn, discuss and investigate goals and dimensions of Sustainability, and practical challenges and solutions.This cohort is in partnership with the Office of Sustainability and Co-developed by Faculty Fellows in Professional Development Innovation and GradFUTURES graduate student fellows.

Upon successful completion of learning cohort including capstone, participants will receive a micro-credential and certification recognizing their proficiency in Sustainability.

Learning Objectives
Participants of GradFUTURES Sustainability learning cohort will learn and discuss the following: 

Systems thinking and analysis of macro-themes (drawing on the UN Sustainable Development Goals, aka SDGs)
The role of emerging technologies in addressing sustainability challenges
The potential and impact of action at different scales (local, national, international initiatives)
How industries, organizations, communities, and countries are approaching sustainability goals; how they are working together or in conflict

Through guest speakers, case studies and immersive capstone, graduate students will learn, discuss and investigate goals and dimensions of Sustainability, and practical challenges and solutions.This cohort is in partnership with the Office of Sustainability and Co-developed by Faculty Fellows in Professional Development Innovation and GradFUTURES graduate student fellows.

Upon successful completion of learning cohort including capstone, participants will receive a micro-credential and certification recognizing their proficiency in Sustainability.

Learning Objectives
Participants of GradFUTURES Sustainability learning cohort will learn and discuss the following: 

Systems thinking and analysis of macro-themes (drawing on the UN Sustainable Development Goals, aka SDGs)
The role of emerging technologies in addressing sustainability challenges
The potential and impact of action at different scales (local, national, international initiatives)
How industries, organizations, communities, and countries are approaching sustainability goals; how they are working together or in conflict

Through guest speakers, case studies and immersive capstone, graduate students will learn, discuss and investigate goals and dimensions of Sustainability, and practical challenges and solutions.This cohort is in partnership with the Office of Sustainability and Co-developed by Faculty Fellows in Professional Development Innovation and GradFUTURES graduate student fellows.

Upon successful completion of learning cohort including capstone, participants will receive a micro-credential and certification recognizing their proficiency in Sustainability.

Learning Objectives
Participants of GradFUTURES Sustainability learning cohort will learn and discuss the following: 

Systems thinking and analysis of macro-themes (drawing on the UN Sustainable Development Goals, aka SDGs)
The role of emerging technologies in addressing sustainability challenges
The potential and impact of action at different scales (local, national, international initiatives)
How industries, organizations, communities, and countries are approaching sustainability goals; how they are working together or in conflict

Through guest speakers, case studies and immersive capstone, graduate students will learn, discuss and investigate goals and dimensions of Sustainability, and practical challenges and solutions.This cohort is in partnership with the Office of Sustainability and Co-developed by Faculty Fellows in Professional Development Innovation and GradFUTURES graduate student fellows.

Upon successful completion of learning cohort including capstone, participants will receive a micro-credential and certification recognizing their proficiency in Sustainability.

Learning Objectives
Participants of GradFUTURES Sustainability learning cohort will learn and discuss the following: 

Systems thinking and analysis of macro-themes (drawing on the UN Sustainable Development Goals, aka SDGs)
The role of emerging technologies in addressing sustainability challenges
The potential and impact of action at different scales (local, national, international initiatives)
How industries, organizations, communities, and countries are approaching sustainability goals; how they are working together or in conflict

Through guest speakers, case studies and immersive capstone, graduate students will learn, discuss and investigate goals and dimensions of Sustainability, and practical challenges and solutions.This cohort is in partnership with the Office of Sustainability and Co-developed by Faculty Fellows in Professional Development Innovation and GradFUTURES graduate student fellows.

Upon successful completion of learning cohort including capstone, participants will receive a micro-credential and certification recognizing their proficiency in Sustainability.

Learning Objectives
Participants of GradFUTURES Sustainability learning cohort will learn and discuss the following: 

Systems thinking and analysis of macro-themes (drawing on the UN Sustainable Development Goals, aka SDGs)
The role of emerging technologies in addressing sustainability challenges
The potential and impact of action at different scales (local, national, international initiatives)
How industries, organizations, communities, and countries are approaching sustainability goals; how they are working together or in conflict

Through guest speakers, case studies and immersive capstone, graduate students will learn, discuss and investigate goals and dimensions of Sustainability, and practical challenges and solutions.This cohort is in partnership with the Office of Sustainability and Co-developed by Faculty Fellows in Professional Development Innovation and GradFUTURES graduate student fellows.

Upon successful completion of learning cohort including capstone, participants will receive a micro-credential and certification recognizing their proficiency in Sustainability.

Learning Objectives
Participants of GradFUTURES Sustainability learning cohort will learn and discuss the following: 

Systems thinking and analysis of macro-themes (drawing on the UN Sustainable Development Goals, aka SDGs)
The role of emerging technologies in addressing sustainability challenges
The potential and impact of action at different scales (local, national, international initiatives)
How industries, organizations, communities, and countries are approaching sustainability goals; how they are working together or in conflict

Through guest speakers, case studies and immersive capstone, graduate students will learn, discuss and investigate goals and dimensions of Sustainability, and practical challenges and solutions.This cohort is in partnership with the Office of Sustainability and Co-developed by Faculty Fellows in Professional Development Innovation and GradFUTURES graduate student fellows.

Upon successful completion of learning cohort including capstone, participants will receive a micro-credential and certification recognizing their proficiency in Sustainability.

Learning Objectives
Participants of GradFUTURES Sustainability learning cohort will learn and discuss the following: 

Systems thinking and analysis of macro-themes (drawing on the UN Sustainable Development Goals, aka SDGs)
The role of emerging technologies in addressing sustainability challenges
The potential and impact of action at different scales (local, national, international initiatives)
How industries, organizations, communities, and countries are approaching sustainability goals; how they are working together or in conflict